Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 26:39
And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
39. in the iniquities of their fathers ] in the guilt to which their fathers have contributed.
with them ] meaning either, as they have done, or, as holding fast by their fathers’ iniquities.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Shall pine away, be consumed and melt away by degrees, through diseases, oppressions, griefs, and manifold miseries.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands,…. Such as were not taken off by any public calamity, as the sword or pestilence should gradually diminish and melt away like wax before the fire, and die in and for their iniquities in an enemy’s country, see Eze 24:23;
and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them; or for the iniquities of their evil fathers, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; they treading in their steps, and doing the same evil deeds, whereby they filled up the measure of their fathers’ sins, and brought upon them deserved punishment. Mt 23:32.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But those who still remained under this oppression would pine away in their iniquities ( , lit., to rot, moulder away), and “also in the iniquities of their fathers with them.” refers to , “which are with them,” which they carry with them and must atone for (see at Exo 20:5),
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
39. And they that are left of you. This is another form of vengeance, that, although they may survive for a time, still they shall gradually pine away; and this may be referred both to those who go into captivity, and to those who shall remain in the land. He had before threatened that they should be destroyed either by famine or sword; but now lest they should boast that they had escaped, if they had not perished by a violent death, He pronounces that they also should die a lingering death; and He also declares the manner of it, viz., that He will fill their hearts with trembling, so that they should fly when none pursued them, (as Solomon also says, Pro 28:1,) and fear at the sound of a falling leaf. Thus He signifies that the ungodly shall be no better off, although free from external troubles, because they are afflicted internally by hidden torments; for although their audacity may proceed even to madness, still it cannot be but that their evil conscience should smite them continually. Their forgetfulness of God may sometimes stupify them; nay, they may seek to shake off all feeling; but, after God has suffered them thus to become brutalized, He presently interrupts their lethargy, and hurries them on so that they are their own executioners. This passage shews us that, the more strait-hearted the wicked are in their contempt of God, the weaker they become, so as to tremble at their own shadow; and this condition is far more wretched than to be cut off at a single blow.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(39) And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity.Better, But those that remain of you shall pine away because of their iniquity, that is, those who will survive the terrible doom described under the five warnings, will pine away with grief, reflecting upon their sins which have brought upon them these tribulations.
And also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.Better, and also on account of the iniquity of their fathers with them shall they pine away, that is, they shall pine away on account of their ancestral sins, which they repeat and reproduce. Hence the ancient Chaldee Versions render it, And also on account of the evil sins of their fathers, which they hold fast in their hands, shall they pine away. It may, however, also be rendered, And also on account of the iniquities of their fathers which are with them; that is, which they must bear and expiate. (See Exo. 20:5.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
39. In the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine For ten points of difference between the natural consequences of the parents’ sins and their punishment, see Exo 20:5, note.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
But Repentance Will Bring Mercy. God’s Mercy Is Unfailing ( Lev 26:39-46 ).
Compare here Deu 30:1-6. God’s judgments are in the earth that men might learn righteousness (Isa 26:9) His mercy is always thus open to those who repent (compare especially Jon 3:1-10).
Lev 26:39-41 a
“And those who are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them. And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary unto me, I also walked contrary unto them, and brought them into the land of their enemies.”
Once the shock of the destruction of their country and exile has taken hold of them, they will come to their senses and recognise what they have done. They will pine away because of their sin and the sin of their fathers. They will admit their sin and their guilt, and the ways in which they have disobeyed His laws, and have walked in the opposite way to that in which He wanted them to go. For they will recognise that this is what has made God walk contrary to them, which has resulted in their being in the land of their enemies. See for example Psalms 137 and the book of Lamentations.
Lev 26:41-42 (41b-42)
“If then their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity, then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.”
Then everything will depend on their response. The uncircumcised heart is one that has not responded to the act of circumcision by genuine covenant obedience. Being outwardly circumcised, God is saying, is of no use unless the heart is circumcised as well. For circumcision to mean anything it must be revealed in the direction which their hearts take. A circumcised heart is one that loves God and His covenant, and reveals it by obedience. Compare Deu 10:16; Deu 30:6; Jer 4:4; Jer 9:26; Eze 44:7; Eze 44:9; Act 7:51). Just as a circumcised ear is one that hears and obeys (Jer 6:10).
In the New Testament this is where the emphasis is laid. He is a true man of God who is circumcised in the heart (Rom 2:26-29), for the true Christian has been circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by the putting off of the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ (Col 2:11). By partaking with Him in His death we partake in all that He is and in the significance of His circumcision. What matters in Christ is not circumcision, or uncircumcision, but a new creature (Gal 6:15),a revealing of faith that works by love (Gal 5:6). Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, what matters is the response of the heart, keeping of the commandments of God (1Co 7:19).
So if in their need the circumcised of Israel recognise that in God’s eyes they are really uncircumcised, because their circumcision has not reached their hearts, and will circumcise the foreskins of their hearts and not those of their flesh (Deu 10:16; Jer 4:4) by true repentance and faith, then God will remember His covenant, the covenant He made with Jacob, and the one He made with Isaac and Abraham. Then He will remember the land. God’s response is limited to those whose hearts are genuine, and who reveal it by love and obedience. In returning and in rest they will be saved. In quietness and confidence will be their strength (Isa 30:15). And one evidence of this will be their patient waiting in the land to which God has sent them until their time of chastening is over.
For we need to recognise the important lesson that while God forgives immediately, very often the consequences of our sins go on. We cannot call back what we have done.
Lev 26:43
“The land also shall be left by them, and shall enjoy its sabbaths, while it lies desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes.”
So they would have to wait until the land had enjoyed the period of rest laid down by God. They would have to patiently accept the punishment of their iniquity, while their land remained in desolation. And this would be because they had rejected His ordinances and hated His requirements as expressed in His statutes.
Lev 26:44
“And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am Yahweh their God;”
But of one thing they could be certain. He would not forget them for ever. While they had broken the covenant, He would not. He therefore would not totally reject them, or hate them, or destroy them utterly. He would not break His covenant with them. And this was because of Who He Is. He is Yahweh, the One Who will be what He wants to be, Who does what He wants to do, Who brings into being what He wants to bring into being.
Lev 26:45
“But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am Yahweh.”
And so for their sakes He will remember the covenant He had made with their ancestors when He brought them forth from the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, revealing Himself as their God, as Yahweh. For His own name’s sake He will deliver them and restore them that all the world might know that He had the power to do so, and that He was faithful and true.
And it is important to recognise that He did do so. He brought them back to the land and established them there. The opportunity was there for them once more to be His people. And He brought their Messiah and called on them to respond to Him, and those who responded became the true Israel, and as His ‘congregation’ the Church await His return. This promise is therefore already fulfilled. In His church all Israel is saved (Rom 11:26).
Lev 26:46
“These are the statutes and ordinances and laws, which Yahweh made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by Moses.”
This further record is now closed with a colophon stating what is in the record, the occasion of its writing, and the responsible author, Moses. It is a record of the statutes, ordinances and laws which Yahweh made between Himself and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by Moses, as spoken directly to Moses as brought together and recorded by the writer. It probably covers Lev 17:1 to Lev 26:46, although it may cover the whole of Leviticus. Compare Lev 7:37-38; Lev 11:46-47; Lev 14:54-57; Lev 15:32-33; Lev 16:34.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 26:39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
Ver. 39. Shall pine away in their iniquity, ] i.e., saith Diodate, Forsake their hardness of heart, and humble themselves with tears and repentance. But I rather adhere to those who take the words for a dreadful threatening worse than all the rest, viz., that after all their losses, captivities, &c., they that were left should swelter and pine away in their iniquities, as if nothing could awake them.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
iniquity = perversity. Hebrew “avah, App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
shall pine: Deu 28:65, Deu 30:1, Neh 1:9, Psa 32:3, Psa 32:4, Jer 3:25, Jer 29:12, Lam 4:9, Eze 4:17, Eze 6:9, Eze 20:43, Eze 24:23, Eze 33:10, Eze 36:31, Hos 5:15, Zec 10:9
and also: Exo 20:5, Exo 34:7, Num 14:18, Deu 5:9, Jer 31:29, Eze 18:2, Eze 18:3, Eze 18:19, Mat 23:35, Mat 23:36, Rom 11:8-10
Reciprocal: Deu 4:29 – But if 1Ki 8:33 – turn again 2Ki 15:29 – carried them 2Ch 33:12 – And when Neh 9:2 – confessed Psa 32:5 – acknowledged Psa 69:27 – Add Psa 109:14 – Let the Isa 14:21 – slaughter Isa 65:7 – Your iniquities Jer 15:14 – pass Dan 9:16 – for the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 26:39. Shall pine away Shall languish out the remainder of their days in bitter grief, and sad reflections upon the miseries which their own and their fathers complicated guilt has brought upon them; and hereby shall be consumed and melt away.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
26:39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with {t} them.
(t) In that, as they are blameworthy of their fathers faults, they shall be punished as well as their fathers.